Being Ignorant is One Thing, but Ignorant and Rude? That’s Something Special (Yeah Right)

Disclaimer: If you consider yourself ignorant, rather, if you fall in my dictionary of being ignorant and cannot take the heat of pointed out what’s right and wrong and then feeling stupid eventually, don’t bother reading this. Also to be clear, the point of this article is not to attach a specific type of people based on their sect, rather based on their capacity of thinking. Also, this opinion-editorial will be published in AUB’s Outlook Newspaper on the issue of March 15, so you’ll see it in print then ;)

When I came to AUB, I thought people would be, how am I going to say this, a bit smarter than your Average Joe. I really thought so, given that they were given the honor of getting an education at this prestigious university. When I say “a bit smarter”, I usually mean respecting others and giving the benefit of the doubt of being ignorant rather then removing all doubt when that student opens his mouth.

I was wrong. Big time. Here’s why:

Usually, around this time, Lent starts for Christians. Now for those who don’t know what Lent means (believe me, I ran into a lot of those now), it’s like Ramadan for Muslims, where they fast for a whole month. Christians do that too, yet under different circumstances. On Day 1 of fasting, the tradition for Christians, especially the Maronites of them, is to go get the Cross painted on their forehead, usually by the priest, who says in Arabic ‘Remember, O man, that you are dust, and unto dust you shall return,’ one of what Christianity is based on.

I’m not typing this to give a lesson on religion, as this isn’t my job. Back to the main story, after I had the cross painted on my forehead, I came back to AUB to attend classes as normal. Being a senior means this isn’t the first time I do such a tradition and come to classes.

But this year, it’s something else.

I could not walk five meters without getting a dirty look, a “what-the-heck-is-wrong-with-you” look, some of my friends even going as far as saying: “Dude, do you know what’s on your head,” or even saying “You look like an Indian,” and even ignorant “Frenchie” girls going to each other “Yii look at this dumb guy hahaha what’s on his head OMG!”

Let’s make a few things clear. As a normal human being who prefers to respect the environment and the people around him, I do look at the mirror when I wake up and I do make sure that there’s nothing on my forehead. Also, comparing me to the people of a country that has more than a billion people isn’t really the right thing to do because I got a cross on my forehead. I’m not even going to respond to the dirty looks, given some people can be just plain stupid and lack respect for themselves or for others, or bother wondering why a girl who can’t speak two proper words of English is dumb enough to make herself look stupid in public. If your parents didn’t tell you are to mingle with other people in AUB, that’s not my problem. Yet, I’m pretty sure though at some point your parents taught them manners, and not to glare and make dumb comments that indicate what type of people you are.

If they didn’t, take this as a note for next time: It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.

Editor’s Note: It may not have been made clear in the article, but Christians fast for 40 or 47 days (depends on if you want to count the Sundays or not).